Privacy Notice
Hello! GCash takes your privacy very seriously. We want a safe digital and financial space for young people, so we work hard to protect your personal information. We do this in a way that follows international standards and Philippine law.
This privacy notice tells you how we handle your personal information and what we do to protect it. We always try to do things in the right way. Our goal is to be clear about what we do and why we do it. Here, we explain how we collect, use, share, keep, delete, and protect your information. We'll also explain how you can control what happens to your information, including your rights as a data subject.
Ask your parents or other trusted adults to join you in reading this Privacy Notice. They will help you understand why and how we process your personal information.
TL;DR? These are the key facts:
You can always:
- ask us for a copy of the information we have about you
- ask us to update the information we have about you
- ask us to delete the information we have about you (unless the law needs us to keep it)
We will always:
- follow the law on how we can keep and use the information we have about you
- tell you when we collect information about you and how we use that information
- use your information only to provide you services and make your GCash experience better for you
We will never:
- give the information we have about you to anyone else, unless…
◦ you tell us we can
◦ we think that doing so will protect you from harm
◦ the law says we have to (e.g. to prevent a crime)
- tell others about how you use your GCash Jr. account in a way that you can be identified, unless you have told us we can
- use the information you have given us to sell you anything, unless you have told us we can
GCash Jr. is a digital wallet designed for young people, like you, to help you develop good money habits. Thanks to our partners, you can pay bills, send money, shop online, and buy things using GCash Jr.
You can learn more about what you can do with your GCash Jr. account on our website.
What we mean by personal information is any information that could be used to identify you. This could be just your name and address; or, it could also include your mobile number, email address, a picture or recording of you. You control when and to whom you share your personal information. By sharing it to us, we use this information to enable the activities you can do with your GCash Jr. account.
We want to ensure a safe online environment for the youth. For more information about data protection for the youth, you can visit the National Privacy Commission’s website to look at resources about the Kabataang Digital campaign.
- To make sure it’s really you (Know-Your-Customer or KYC Information)
Before we can set up a digital wallet for you and let you use our services, we need to know who you are, as required by law. We also need to keep an eye on your transactions and report any suspicious activities to financial regulators. It's all about following the rules and not letting sneaky people hide money they got in a fishy way (that's called money laundering).
- To provide our financial and lifestyle services
We collect your personal information so you can enjoy our services easily and instantly. For example, when you subscribe to your favorite streaming service and pay using your GCash App, we share your name, account information, contact information, and payment method. We collect these details so the company you're paying can apply your payment to the correct account.
- To personalize our products and services
We collect and analyze your personal information to tailor our services just for you. By understanding what you like and need, we can recommend products, customized services, and personalized features that make your experience even more awesome.
- To carry out product and market research
We may use your personal information to find trends and patterns in the market so that we can create new products and improve our services. For example, we will soon offer a way for you to link your GCash Jr. account to a physical debit card, and other services to promote good money habits for young Filipinos. We are constantly creating new and exciting products because we study and anticipate your needs.
- To manage risk and prevent potential fraud and crime
We do risk analysis and fraud prevention to protect you, our partners, and our business. For example, to stop someone else from taking over your GCash account, we may collect and look at your facial image, transaction histories, and other personal information. To learn more about our DoubleSafe security feature, please visit our website.
- To improve our customer service
Our Customer Experience Management Team may need your other personal information to answer your questions better. Also, we record your calls and chats to improve and train our team.
- To enhance your GCash App’s performance
To give you the best possible experience, we may use your personal information and study how you use your App to make our services even better.
- To send you updates and other communications
We may use your personal information to send you important updates about your account, the services you use, new features, security alerts, and other relevant communications.
- To show you cool stuff you might like
We use your personal information to tailor ads just for you, with offers, promotions, and suggestions that match what you’re into. We try to make these ads personal by looking at how you use your GCash App, like what you buy, how you use it, and what you like.
If you decide to open a GCash Jr. account, we will collect, process, and share various types of information. Don’t worry, we will keep and use them only until they are needed to accomplish the purposes they were collected for or to meet legal requirements.
- Identification (Know-Your-Customer) Information: When you open a GCash Jr. account, we collect certain details about you. These include your full name, sex, home address, mobile number, email address, birth details, citizenship or nationality, government-issued ID numbers, and your photo. If needed, we might also ask about other information, as required by the government through the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).We keep your identification information for 5 years after the last transaction you made using your GCash account or after you close your account.
- Financial Information: If you link your bank account to your GCash digital wallet, we may collect your bank account and online login details.
We keep your financial information for 5 years after the last transaction you made using your GCash account or after you close your account.
- Contact List: If you use our services to send money or mobile load to your friends, we may collect information from your mobile contact list.
The GCash App keeps your contact list for as long as you have it.
- Third-Party Information: We collect information about you from other sources to improve our services. For example, we check Government databases to make sure you’re really who you say you are to prevent fraud.The length of time we keep your third-party information varies:
- Identification Information: These are kept for 5 years after the last transaction you made using your GCash Jr. account or after you close your account.
- If relevant to an ongoing investigation: These are kept for up to 10 years after completion of investigation or depending on the court's order.
- Device Information: We grab some details about the phone you use to access your GCash Jr. account—stuff like what type of device it is, its ID number, time zone, language setting, browser type, and IP address. We use the device information to improve your GCash App’s performance.
We keep your device information for at least 90 days in our active records and up to 3 years in our backup records.
- App Use Information: We check out what you do on the GCash app and website, such as the pages you visit and the activities you do. We do this so that we can personalize your GCash App experience and provide you enhanced services.
We keep your app use information for at least 90 days in our active records and up to 3 years in our backup records.
- Biometric Login Information: We collect biometric information stored on your device to access your GCash account. We may also collect your facial image for our DoubleSafe security feature. To learn more about DoubleSafe, please visit our website.
The GCash App keeps your biometric login information for as long as you have it.
- Geolocation Information: We collect your location information to make our services better, for fraud and crime detection, and to show you cool offers. Some features might not work correctly if you don’t share your location. You can control this in your device settings.
If your geolocation information is relevant to an ongoing investigation, we keep it for up to 10 years after completion of investigation or depending on the court's order.
- Information you provide when you get in touch with us: When you reach out to us through chat, phone, or email, we keep track of our conversation and gather info about you and what your concerns are. Also, we snap some pics at GCash events you go to.
If it refers to identification information, we keep the information you provide when you contact us for 5 years after the last transaction you made using your GCash Jr. account or after you close it.
- Online or network activity information: We collect information about your interactions with our app, website, ads, social media pages, and other digital platforms. We use this information to improve your GCash App’s and GCash website’s performance. We also evaluate how we communicate with our users and improve our services.
We keep your device information for at least 90 days in our active records and up to 3 years in our backup records.
- Social Media Information: We collect information when you interact with us on our official social media pages (Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, and Instagram). This can include your ticket number, mobile number, name, photo, and other details related to your questions.
The length of time we keep your social web information varies.
- Identification Information: We hang onto these for 5 years after the last transaction you made using your GCash Jr. account or after you close your account.
- If relevant to an ongoing investigation: We keep it for up to 10 years after completion of investigation or depending on the court's order.
- Advertising Unique Identifiers: We collect unique identifiers like your iOS Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) and Android Advertising ID (GAID) for our advertising activities. You can control how you want to share your advertising identifiers through changing your device settings.
We keep your advertising unique identifiers for as long as you have the GCash App.
We collect your personal information in several ways:
- Direct Interactions: We collect information when you create a GCash Jr. account and provide your personal information to use our services, ask us for help, and others.
- Via Our App and Website: We collect information when you open a GCash Jr. account or use any of our services such as Pay Bills or Pay QR.
- Through Various Channels: We collect information through various channels, including online forms and app pages managed by us or our service providers. For example, if you buy something from a partner’s website using your GCash Jr. account, we’ll get your details to process the payment.
- From Our Partners and Affiliates: For example, we receive information from other companies whenever they team up with GCash to offer their services to you.
- From Our Social Media Platforms: We collect information when you interact with us on our official social media accounts or when you join our contests.
- By Saying Yes on Your Mobile Devices: We collect information when you give the green light for features like biometric login or grant permissions for services like Buy Load and other marketing activities.
- From Other Third Parties: For example, we may receive your personal information when you ask another company to transact with us or when you request them to send your personal information to us (we call this activity of moving your data around as exercising your right to data portability).
- From Your Friends or Family Members: For example, we collect information when your friends include you as a reference or contact person in their account.
We partner with different government agencies and private businesses to provide a wide range of financial and lifestyle services. Sometimes, we need to securely share your personal information with them to give you the services you asked for:
- GCash Affiliates: Different companies associated with GCash (we call them affiliates) work together to provide our services. Another company called Globe Fintech Innovations, Inc. (GFI or Mynt) owns our company, GXI which houses the GCash App.
- Financial institutions: To always give you top-notch services, we may share your personal information with other trusted financial institutions. This helps us do things like provide the services you want, make sure you’re really you, handle risks, prevent fraud and crime, and more.
- Partners: GCash may team up with different businesses to offer you a wide range of financial and lifestyle services. For instance, if you use your GCash Jr. account to buy the latest merch of the artist you stan, we may share your personal information with the company you’re buying from. If you join a promotion with our partners, we may share your promo details with them. To know who our partners are, check out our website.
- Service Providers: We also share your personal information with trusted service providers who help us make our services smooth and efficient. They do things like answer your questions, analyze information, handle risk, prevent fraud, process payments, and more. They play a big role in making sure the GCash App runs easily for you.
- Fraud and crime prevention partners: We are dedicated to protecting you and other GCash Jr. users from fraud and other crimes. By sharing some of your personal information when needed, we contribute to a safer and more transparent financial system, protecting you and the broader community. Because you are minors, we want to make sure you are protected online.
- Law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, and courts: GCash may share your personal information with law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, courts, and other public authorities. We will only do this if required by law or to protect our rights, prevent fraud, and ensure the safety of GCash users and the public.
- Changes within GCash: If GCash joins with another company, or if another company buys us or our assets, we might have to share your personal information with that company. If this happens, we will make sure to tell you ahead of time if your information will be handed over to another company or if there will be new rules about keeping your information private.
We make sure to destroy your personal information securely so no one else grabs or uses it. We do this by following security measures that are standard in our industry. When the law says we can't keep your info anymore, we delete it.
For physical records, we shred them. For information stored on electronic media like tapes and hard drives, we completely erase them using secure wipe solutions so they can’t be read or restored. This makes the information unreadable and unusable anymore to others.
Your trust and privacy are important to us. As minors, you deserve extra care and protection. We aim to be clear about how and when we share your information, all while ensuring its safety and security.
There can be dangers and uncertainties (we call them risks) when you create a digital wallet. Someone might attempt to take control of your account (account takeover), pretend to be a family member to trick you into giving away your personal information (social engineering), or even use your cellphone without your permission (hacking). We want to keep your details safe so they won't be used the wrong way, get lost, or be accessed and used by someone you didn't allow. That's why we've added security measures to help protect against these risks. These security measures include:
- Limiting access: Only certain people are allowed to see your personal information.
- Encryption: We code your personal information to keep it private when it’s being stored and sent. Encryption is like turning your information into a secret code, which can only be understood by those who have the key.
- Multi-factor authentication (MFA): We use MFA in the GCash App. This means there are different ways you can prove you are who you say you are in order to access your account. Usually, there are three factors: something you know, something you have, and something you are. For example, if you want to link a new device to your GCash Jr. account, you need to use a one-time password (OTP) (something you have, because you receive it in your registered mobile number), enter your Mobile PIN (something you know, as only you or your parent knows this), and perform a selfie scan (something you are, as we use your face to make sure that it’s really you) . We also use biometric login, an example is using your fingerprint scan on your device.
We regularly check how information moves into and out of our computer systems to make sure it’s protected. We enforce organizational, physical, and technical security measures aligned with recognized industry standards and global best practices.
If we give your personal information to another company to help us with our services, we make them sign a special agreement. This agreement makes sure they follow the same rules we do to keep your information safe.
Additionally, we advise you to be on the lookout and always protect your passwords. Inform us immediately if you suspect your passwords have been compromised. Never share your MPIN or OTP. For more information on protecting your GCash Jr. Account, visit our Help Center.
When decisions are made about you using computer systems without human involvement, it’s called a process known as “automated decision-making.” We use automated decision–making processes in GCash Jr. accounts, like when we check the information you provide to prevent fraud. We also use this to ensure that only age-appropriate services are provided to GCash Jr. accounts.
You have several rights under the law as data subjects:
- You can be told about how we handle your personal information (right to be informed).
- You can have reasonable access to the personal information we have about you (right to access).
- If we're processing your personal information based on consent or legitimate interest, you can object (right to object).
- You can ask us to stop, withdraw, block, delete, or destroy your personal information when allowed by law (right to erasure or blocking).
- You can question any mistakes or errors in your personal information and have them corrected (right to rectify).
- If your information privacy rights have been violated and you've suffered damage, you can claim compensation (right to damages).
- If you feel that your personal information has been misused or your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with the National Privacy Commission (right to file a complaint).
- You can ask us to securely move or transfer your personal information from GCash to another when allowed by law (right to data portability).
For more information about your privacy rights, you can visit the National Privacy Commission’s website to look at resources about the Rights of Data Subjects.
We'll handle all your requests to access, correct, or move your personal information unless there are legal reasons we can't. You can ask for a copy of any personal information we have about you. If you find a mistake, you can ask us to correct it.
We value your thoughts, feedback, and requests. If you need to talk to us, call us at 2882 (Customer Care).
We periodically update this notice to provide you with the most recent information on how we process and protect your personal information. Our goal is to keep up with the latest rules about data privacy and advancements in data security technologies. We recommend that you visit this page often to stay informed of any updates we make.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
